‘Enough’ rape kits – but not all have them

Amid the scourge of gender-based violence, abuse and femicide, police have revealed that more than 110 000 sexual assault kits are currently available to victims – but not all police stations have them.

Responding to a parliamentary question recently, national police commissioner Fannie Masemola detailed how many kits were available in each province.

The kits are used by police when taking or referring a victim of assault to a medical facility to collect evidence.

The amount of kits often far exceeded the number required, except in the Northern Cape where 857 adult sexual assault evidence kits were needed, but only 835 were available.

The province did, however, have a surplus of more than 200 paediatric or child sexual assault evidence kits.

KwaZulu-Natal had a shortage of 150 child kits, as of 1 March.

In total, 119 832 kits were available at the start of March, while the department estimated 46 119 were required.

Masemola said some stations did not have kits because it is “not necessarily cost-effective”.

“At certain police stations very few cases which require the use of the kits are reported, resulting in the kits extending beyond their shelf-life and therefore having to be disposed of as unused.”

He said the supply chain division distributed kits to provinces, who decided which stations should get the kits and how many to each.

These stations are often based in central locations or close to family violence, child protection and sexual offences units, which collect these kits when needed.

It said the division received feedback monthly on whether enough kits are available.

In 2019, Police Minister Bheki Cele had to reassure the nation that sufficient kits would be available after three stations north of Pretoria had no kits for several months.

The shortage was due to a delay in awarding a tender.